‘If Hardik Pandya was a woman, she would be hailed as a sexual revolutionary’

I am amused by the kind of things that angers us Indians. The latest being cricketer Hardik Pandya getting ‘called out’ for his statements on Koffee with Karan.

Journalists and intellectuals have been dissecting the terribly important talk that Hardik Pandya delivered on the show. This chatter was then picked up by news sites that lurk around cyberspace like out-of-work dementors, sniffing for outrage.They then splashed their ad-ridden sites with articles and editorials on what he should and shouldn’t have said.

As a journalist, it makes me feel ashamed.

Koffee with Karan is a sleazy, silly show where the host gets his friends to reveal how many times they sleep with whom and on which days of the week. Running through the show’s invitees will give you an idea into the depth of the show – Fardeen Khan, Zayed Khan, Rakhi Sawant and Himesh bhai. The tagline of the show is Stop Making Sense, not Aman Ki Asha.

Are we really going to intellectualise that show? What next? A psychoanalytic conference on Sasuraal Simar Ka? The Freudian slant in Bhabiji Ghar Pe Hain? What even is going on?

I am sick of the politically correct nature of Indian media. They play this stern, moralistic hostel warden, running around and telling people what to think. Hardik likes women and brags about his exploits – so what? If a woman did it, she would be hailed as a sexual revolutionary. And why do we expect every cricketer to behave like Bharat Ratna Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar?

And what gives these journalists the right to judge these people? Are they all perfect in thought, word and action? Or assuming they become massively-followed millionaire celebrities tomorrow, will they all become perfect role models?

Role model—that’s always the word thrown around, isn’t it? Cricketers are role models. In fact, everybody is a role model in our country. Actors must be role models. Parents, teachers, elders, writers, their neighbours, the milkman —every person in this country needs to be a role model. I don’t get it.

Pray, who are these kids learning life-lessons from Koffee with Karan?

If that’s where you’re looking, I’m sorry but you’re a kid whose life looks bleak anyway. How long are we going to throw this dumb, carcass of a logic that people are affected by TV, films and books?

It is this stupid logic that has led to our films coming with cuts and disclaimers. It’s the reason why television shows in India cater to the intelligence levels of orangutans.

People can be influenced by anything. Dayanand Saraswati saw a rat eat a laddoo and decided to eradicate the caste system from the country. Sanjay Gandhi travelled to Europe and got inspired to dump half a million people on the other side of the Yamuna overnight. How does it matter who gets influenced by what?

This politically correct nature of Indian media is (like most things) a rip-off the sickening PC culture in the West. Appallingly, we in India have way more important issues than flipping out over what an actor said.

And why should Hardik Pandya apologise for his statements?

What is this culture of bullying someone for what they said? This is not very different from what Right-wing trolls do to people like Naseeruddin Shah. It was something he said, to a pointed question, on a talk show that is meant to be sleazy. He was not in the Lok Sabha, for heaven’s sake!

Till a decade ago, our popular culture had normalised stalking and following women. A lot of us English-speaking urban people have moved beyond and called that out because we had access to education, exposure and there’s no other way to say it – privilege.

That’s the thing about PC culture. It consists of enlightened people who realised something about the world, and WHAM! They want everybody to fall in line, irrespective of their upbringing or roots.

Hardik Pandya studied till Class 9. In Surat.

He then moved to Baroda as a kid, playing cricket for schools and leagues till he and his brother earned money and fame for their family through their skills. He did this till he ranked among the 11 best cricketers in the country by the age of 22.

And now you expect him to become an exemplary citizen, a role model?

Thanks to the outrage, BCCI has sent a showcause notice to him, and might ban cricketers from non-cricketing talk shows. Does that make you enlightened people happy? Does it give you dil chandan sa thandak?

Hardik Pandya is 25-years-old. He is paid to play cricket that is what is expected from him. If we all were good enough to be in Top 11 in India in what we did, we wouldn’t have the time to outrage over such dumb events.

Hardik Pandya isn’t paid enough to live up to your high moral standards. Nor is he morally obligated to be a role model for kids.

Go ahead, Hardik Pandya. Win matches, party, date women, have fun. If only just to piss off Twitterati.

45 COMMENTS

DONT defend this act !! at least have guts to say that he has said wrong things about women and has explained how he treats them EX-“aaj me kar ke aaya ” .
THE problem is much more serious because BCCI controls all these aspects of a player, its not the player who decides whom to give interview because he represets INDIAN CRICKET team and the BCCI. HARDIK has surely crossed the laxman rekha and it would be really essential to teach him some lessons on conduct.

Saying that he said something and therefore he is guilty is dumb. What is wrong in saying “aaj main karke aaya”? We are the same people who watch an English tv show and when they objectify women, we laugh are asses off.
Jokes are meant to be that and whatever he said, if real, who cares? Not like he’s going around having sex with women without their consent. Why do you want to police thought? Why do you wanna be like Shiv Sena and BJP who decide what consenting adults do and think?

It was not an interview. And, BCCI is not the Master of the players. Players are paid professionals – they are paid to play cricket, what they do in their own time is nobody else’s business, not even BCCI’s. For example, BCCI doesn’t control which ads players choose to do or which brand’s products they use. What these two said might have been in bad taste, but remember taste is often completely subjective.

1. It’s exactly the job of print and media to educate and uplift the society. Even shows like KFK do have an impact sadly. Labelling or blaming the audience as dumb is what led to a decade of regressive content.

2. The right attitude towards censorship doesn’t prohibit discussions on something as natural as sex; rather shuts its doors on misogynistic school of thought.

3. Hardik Pandya is Not getting called out for his womanizing ways or having an active sex life; it is his commodification of women that’s alarming. A woman is no one’s cake to have.

Agreed that he may have got carried away and a better choice of words could have helped evade the whole fiasco. But a role model or no model; one doesn’t expect him to be either perfect nor an arrogant prick. One only expects basic decency.

That is nonsense. It goes both ways, if a Woman says she slept with 1000 men we are supposed to be understanding to the New-age Feminist movements & listen to a speech on equality etc.. Sick of the hypocrisy with ladies. Give the guy a break, being a fast-bowling all-rounder is no small thing!
The problem with what you are saying Sneha is it reflects an Indian era of the 90’s or 80’s. The world is changed and women are more progressive and in a lot of cases with loose morals like men, but yet women always expect men to fall-back to Older-morals, that is DOUBLE-STANDARDS at the highest level.
Anyways, Hardik has HEART and he really gives it his best for India. Never forgot how he whacked PAKISTAN in that finals a few years back single-handedly even though there were wickets falling in the other end. Ask anyone who’s played Cricket professionally, that’s not something any normal-person can do unless you are really passionate about what you are doing!

What commodification? Did he rape or sexually assault anyone? Was he accused of any such thing? Because if he was in consensual relationships – no matter their nature or sexual preference – it’s the choice of the women as much as it’s his. The only issue seems to be that he publicly used language that’s not well-polished or sugarcoated.

I don’t know how big a womanizer he is but did BCCI ever scolded him over discipline ever before? Probably not. So, it seems all the problem is with his politically incorrect way of speaking about sexual relations.

Yes, print media educates society – in an ideal world. Not in the world we live in. Here, they only do business and serve whatever readers want them to serve. Also, online media is not that different.

Indians are not liberal and those Indians who claim to be liberal, do not know ABC of liberalism Most Indian women do not even understand the meaning of feminism. They think that crucifying men is feminism.

That’s precisely what feminism is. At least in our age. You say Indian women don’t understand feminism? Well, which country’s women do? USA? UK? France? Germany? Australia? Sweden? Canada? If you’ve been following the global news from those countries lately, you know they are all the same, at least not much different. Rather, India still has a larger faction of sensible women. It’s much worse in Sweden or Germany or Canada.

I am not very sure where I stand in this argument but I am beyond impressed and I am still quite amazed with how the writer has unapologetically placed his opinions.The country needs more people who go against what the society deems right.

To be.in the media needs maturity, which was not there with him. His startdom went to his head and an invite on a show made him more over confident. Even Karan could have censored the show before broadcasting. Where is his maturity? Why can’t the show be cancelled?

Mr Hriday Ranjan .. What your saying is not correct because .. As a cricketer Mr pandya is a professional who is bound to follow a code of conduct set by the bcci … Which establishes how and how not to behave in the public domain .. And as a cricketer who plays for the nation in all the 3 formats of the game he is bound by the code of conduct which he has clearly breached … And if ur of the opinion to give him a clean chit on this one then let me remind u the incidents of ball tampering ( which are though a complete different issue ) but comes under same breach of conduct … Here the point is professionals have to follow their codes in true letter and spirit .. I haven’t seen even Mr shami who has had so much trouble in the recent past in his personal life to go on and say such things .. So he should have thought about what he said ..
And last .. Everybody in this damn country have every right to condemn or uphold their thoughts .. No one should judge you or him but when u are under a professional oath u are bound to follow it 24/7 .. So looking at Mr pandya’s rant on women .. I hope he gets stripped down from his professional duties as soon as possible ..

Who is this retarded guy?.Your post doesn’t even make sense. Either you are in same category or dumbest than him. It’s not about getting paid .Its about representing nation. However we are in personal life,we should be aware of surroundings . That’s sense of being responsible. He is 25 years n should know how to talk.

A woman saying the things Pandya did would be branded a slut. Which India do you live in? Also, have you heard about systemic objectification, punching up v/s punching down? Are these just phrases to you or do you get what they mean?

You’ve clearly missed the bus on this, because the issue here is not that Pandya has an active sex life, but the demeaning, objectifying way he spoke about women. The context here was sexual, but the issue was objectification. Understand the difference.

As for being role models, hell YHUS cricketers are just that. Cricket is called a religion in India for a reason. Kids look up to these players, and that is a privilege. If you think all this money, fame, and prestige comes with no responsibility (absolutely moral responsibility as well) you are sorely mistaken.

Yes, some people would call Her ‘slut’, just as some people are calling Hard-dick, “an indisciplined womanizer, misogynist”.

That’s not the point.

The point is, the very same people who are calling Hard-dick, “a misogynist” – would be the same people to lift up Her as a “symbol of empowerment”.

Also, whatever we see cricketers as is our problem. They are paid to play cricket, what they do in their own time in not our business. If your kids are watching Koffee with Karan to find role-models, they are doomed anyway. Even many adults, myself included, always skip the channel when such a show is running. It is show that’s meant to be borderline controversial and politically incorrect.

Dude, your replies reveal you need to educate yourself. Objectification and consent are related but separate issues, for instance. You clearly don’t understand the former. Care to read up a little? Or are already convinced that your ignorant conclusion is correct?

Sure, scapegoating Hardik is not the best response. The failure was, and is, systemic. His upbringing may have caused him to say something crass, but that does not mean we shouldn’t try to change that upbringing. If nothing is said now, more people’s upbringing becomes like Hardik’s. The cycle won’t be broken without some action.

And as for women being celebrated for saying the same, I am yet to see a woman celebrated for saying the men she slept with were nameless, just bodies who they liked to see “move”. Send me one example?

Honestly I’m not sure what your outrage is against, Hardik speaking in a crass fashion, or women being allowed to express their sexuality (without reducing men to objects). But one thing is clear. You want to defend Hardik in the parade of his ignorance in the media because you want to retain the right to do the same thing.

I have better things to do, clearly you don’t.
You make a distinction between expressing sexuality and objectification, however, that distinction isn’t clear. You use the word crass to make the distinction. In whose eyes?
You’re no one to tutor someone into writing. Or even saying what they feel.
It’s not me who wants the right to do the same thing, it’s you who wants to retain any ‘right’, in this case the right to expression, sexual or voiced, which in your case is the only freedom: You’re no one to teach me my rights. I don’t agree with anything the author says, but in this case I will defend his right to say it.
In reality, you don’t stand for freedom of expression at all when you talk with a certain perspective. What you say is merely justifiable in your eyes, and that’s why you don’t deserve debate.

A much needed article to show double standard faces of Indian people. When anurag kashyap creates some content on sex and blood, people enjoy it and make him as their role model but when pandya talks about his tuning with his parents, people go mad about it(jealous not to have cool parents?).
First, hardik should not even be considered an ideal role model let him play in CWC19 at the least.
Second, this is a classic example of the interview mishaps where a mofo fucks the brain out of you and says stop making sense and you end loosing your reputation (may be life).
Third, very convenient of those who said that everybody knows what cricketers do but they should not talk about it because it is a public forum. Oh please so you mean observing girls how they move is okay by not talking about it.
Fourth, those who think that they made these cricketer’s career and so these players should behave according to their moral standards. You might have helped them getting endorsements or helped bcci earn money. But unlike you help actors to get on top like salman, these guys reach at top of their game and rankings because they outplay other players not because they have million followers on twitter.
Finally what went wrong with these players is that they should have asked bcci before appearing in the interview. They should have learnt the art of speech which can make bad words looks good like Aamir said I succumbed to beautiful girls and no one noticed. And going forward if they want to get lime light, learn some culture and know your audience.

Thanks for writing another shit article!! And to point out something, if a woman would have o gone on record to say something cringy, cheap things like hardik, she would have been cut to pieces, fried and eaten by the media… And what he said was nothing French cheese and toast, that was total shit… Coming from the mouth of an asshole… That’s why education is must for everyone!!
Stop glorifying such assholes and write some real shit…

High on privilege what? What is critical thinking? Deconstructing prototypes from a dialogue?
It’s the media/ literature responsibility to uplift… dialectics isn’t about proving something/ somebody wrong, it’s about saying what you feel/ think, which strikes against power structures for change. In this case media outrage, and generally feminism/ ladies finger wave, is about a certain ideas being exposed to society, and therefore,
A, it prevents alternative ideas to come to the fore,
B, it’s the same type of expression that woman centric philosophy claims to be fighting against, namely patriarchy or rule by power, not by logic.

There is so much wrong with this article on so many levels. I mean I don’t know which india you live in but I don’t think you have ever gone out of your house or ever had a female friend.
A girl bragging about her sex life would be labelled slut. That’s why if she talks about her sex life , she is said to be courageous.
I could go on and on but the thing is that you are an ignorant idiot who I don’t know how bacame a columnist.

What a crap piece of shit this write-up. Well if you think he was correct in what he said, probably you are one like him too. And you don’t deserve to write these write-ups. Utterly disgusting words. Shame.

No matter how good or bad we are, the saying goes “For by your words, you shall be justified and for by your words, you shall be condemned”. I like the article here. This whole talk-show gate has blown out of proportion.

It’s definitely not about telling people what to think but the main reason I believe journalism exist as a platform is to inspire through stories of people that gives a glimpse of the right way to think.
We are just an insignificant human being ,due to our mortality we cannot experience everything and these Books and movies and TV essentially tells stories, give perspective about Human experiences that we can’t have personally.It has capability to make us more empathetic and understanding.
It is definitely important what these people who are at a position of power and influence says and give out in the world.
It is the responsibility that comes with the power and position.
This world would be a better place if people think before they speak and type.
All love..

By writing that books, films and TV do not influence people, you are indicating that this article that you wrote is also not something to get influenced by.
I guess all these platforms exist to give perspective about things that the audience may not experience personally but to solely for awareness , invoke humbleness and therefore create empathy.
I truly believe that these platforms and the privileged people like you who get to use the platform have the power to influence and have the responsibility to use it wisely rather than abusing it.
Thank you, all love

What a stupid article with dumb logic! it is not about being role models, playing cricket or being of humble origin. It is about treating women a sex objects ‘jisko mila woh leke jayega’!!! and if Koffee is Karan is sleazy and silly, your article is downright gutter material. And yes, i have right to call you and hardik Pandya out

Completely agree with everything written in the article. There was nothing wrong with the episode, and I say that as a female and a feminist. I believe that India treats casual sex as a taboo and equates it with objectifying people, which is why there is such an upheaval.

This is such a rubbish article, there needs to be permanent ban on this writer even if he apologies for his bad judement in writing this article. If can not adhere to minial jouralistic standard he has no business of being the the business of jouralism. Start a pakoda business or something.
Cricketers are role models for the youth, as it is India is beset with misogyny and patriarchy, we do not need to make the problem worse by seeting wrong examples for our younger generation.